Bad Mood
by St. Aelphaba
Summary: Jane shows up in a hideous shirt and a horrible mood. Maura doesn't know what to make of it, but Korsak and Frost have a theory... Bits of Rizzles.


A/N: The idea popped into my head for this story and I had to write it. I really hope my characterizations of Frost and Korsak were okay! Please review! :)

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Maura was not a deceitful person. She found it nigh impossible to lie. She was terrible at it and did not see the point to it.

So when Jane entered the morgue wearing a violent red-orange tank and a scowl, Maura could only gawk. Maura was used to Jane in softer hues of blues and greys. Jane may be a loud person, but her clothing, while not what Maura would ever dream of wearing herself, was always sophisticated, in a Jane-ish way.

Jane seemed to notice Maura's shock at her clothing choice today.

"It's all I had that was clean," she snapped, obviously insecure about the loud color of it. "I forgot to do my laundry _again_. I'll just add it to the long list of shit that needs to get done."

Maura frowned sympathetically.

"Are you okay, Jane?" she asked.

"I'm great," Jane said harshly, her scowl growing. She stalked off mumbling about coffee, leaving a baffled Maura behind. Maura waited until Jane was around the corner, then went the opposite way to Jane's office space.

"Hey Maura," Korsak greeted her.

"Hello Korsak," Maura said, and nodded to Frost. "Frost."

"Hey," Frost said without looking up from the computer he seemed to be completely absorbed in.

"Have you two seen Jane today?" Maura asked. "I just had a brief encounter with her in which she snapped at me before I spoke and then stormed off. She seems disgruntled about something."

"Yeah," said Frost. "She yelled at me for not organizing my side of the desk more often." He shot a pointed look towards Jane's equally messy side.

"I commented on her shirt and she's been ignoring me ever since," Korsak put in. "She needs to get laid."

Both Maura and Frost looked over to him and stared at him incredulously.

"Well, not by me!" Korsak exclaimed, putting his hands in front of his face.

"Me either," said Frost with a shudder.

Both men turned to Maura, who blinked.

"What?" Maura asked.

"What about you?" suggested Korsak.

"_Yeah_," Frost agreed. "What _about_ you?"

"What?" Maura repeated, frozen?

"Well, why don't you, well … " Korsak turned red. "Give her what she needs?"

"_What_?" Maura exclaimed. "Why would I be the one to do that?"

Frost shrugged.

"You _are_ Maura and she _is_ Jane," he said.

"What does that mean?" Maura asked.

"Don't tell me you two don't have the hots for each other," said Frost.

Maura chose her words carefully; she couldn't lie, especially about her own feelings.

"Even if we did," she said with a pout, "I wouldn't want to ruin such a great friendship."

Frost raised his eyebrow.

"Is that all it is? Friendship?" he asked. He and Korsak shared a smirk.

"Yes!" Maura insisted, her voice cracking. The truth was that despite what Maura may _want_, her friendship with Jane was really that – just friendship.

Korsak shook his head.

"No. I've seen the way you two look at each other," he said. "If you two aren't together now, you _should_ be."

Could it be true? Did Maura and Jane really look at each other in such a way that their sexuality and platonic friendship were questioned? Could this mean that Jane could feel the same way for Maura?

Maura did not like what-ifs, and she did not like guessing. She liked her information to be thoroughly researched and assuredly true. She did not like deceit. She could not stand ambiguity.

Maybe this was why she had never fared well in the beginnings (or middles or ends) of relationships. She lacked the confidence to ask people out unless she absolutely _knew_ once hundred percent that they were interested in her as she was with them.

"What do you mean, the way we look at each other?" Maura asked, deciding to pursue the subject.

Korsak and Frost exchanged a knowing look.

"It's like there's no one in the world but the two of you," said Korsak.

Maura's jaw fell open. Was she that easy to read?

"Jane's not even a lesbian," she said, unable to speak for herself. Jane had made that fact clear plenty of times.

"Oh?" asked Frost. "She seems pretty … dykey to me." He cringed at his own choice of words.

Maura remembered how the guys had wanted to put Jane down as 'butch' on a lesbian dating website.

"Why are you two suddenly so interested in all of this?" Maura demanded, having run out of arguments.

"Because we agree that Jane needs some action," said Frost as Korsak nodded in agreement, "And both of us are only interested in a platonic relationship with her. The question is," he said, leaning closer to Maura, "Are you?"

Maura imagined maintaining her friendship with Jane for the rest of her life. She liked the idea. It seemed reasonable enough. She had made it this far without feeling Jane's lips on hers. She could do it forever if it meant at least being near Jane.

But then a memory popped into Maura's intelligent brain of a night she and Jane had both overindulged in alcohol. They found themselves cuddling together on Maura's large couch when they awoke the next morning. Maura barely remembered anything from the night before but she could almost see through the blur of the night a sloppy kiss.

She had always convinced herself that she had dreamed it. She had dreams like that about Jane all the time and besides, she could never guess on a memory as huge and uncertain as the one in question.

Now the idea that the kiss could have been real felt reasonable. That night Jane had as much to drink as Maura had – but Jane also had a much higher tolerance level for alcohol. She could not have been nearly as intoxicated as Maura – she probably knew what she was doing, if they _did_ share a kiss. Jane was aware of it at the time, not weeks afterward.

And when Maura woke up cuddled against Jane, Jane was stroking her hair. All that Maura knew about Jane would have told her that Jane would have jumped apart from her and made an excuse to go home and pretend nothing had happened – not that Maura would ever dare to guess on something like that.

Maura allowed herself to imagine what could have happened that night. They woke up fully clothed, though Maura's shirt was inside out and she was pretty sure Jane wasn't wearing a bra.

Could they have – ?

_No_, thought Maura. _No guessing. We've always been Just Friends and that's probably all we will ever be._

Korsak and Frost were watching Maura expectantly, with interest. Maura knew she had to answer in some form.

She said the most truthful thing she could manage, given the small amount of space she had to wriggle through without telling a lie, which she could not do. Shoulders squared, lips pursed tightly, Maura said, "The mere idea is preposterous."

With that, she stormed off, suddenly in a mood foul enough to match Jane's.

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A/N: And again, I say, please review. I'm like Tinkerbell...or Lady Gaga...only instead of applause, I need reviews to live.


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